Joe D thoughts

[TUM301]

Don`t have and never want any J. Dimaggio items in my collection. Now his brother that`s a different story.

[71buc]

Originally Posted by TUM301

Don`t have and never want any J. Dimaggio items in my collection. Now his brother that`s a different story.

I only have a handful of DiMaggio items in my collection. I wish I could afford more. Although I never saw him grace centerfield my father who despises the Yankees did. When he describes watching Joe D. track down a fly ball or the savage beauty of his swing it is the only time my dad sounds poetic. Although he may have been a churlish pr!ck it's irrelevant in my dad's memories. He says Dimaggio was cool before Elvis picked up a guitar. Because baseball is a game passed from fathers to sons my opinion of DiMaggio reflects my father's childhood remembrances. Baseball players are human. Some embody what is best in us (Clemente) and some reflect our darkest sides (Cap Anson). Jackson Pollock was a mess but that doesn't serve to diminish his art. In Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" Santiago says "But I must have confidence and I must be worthy of the great DiMaggio who does all things perfectly even with the pain of a bone spur in his heel" If DiMaggio was good enough for my father, Hemingway, and Santiago he is good enough for me.